On a hazy summer afternoon, dappled sunlight filtered through the swaying leaves, intensifying the sultry heat as the rhythmic cicada calls added an inexplicable irritation to the air.

Under a locust tree beside the First Experimental High School’s field, a long-haired girl sat with her eyes closed, murmuring softly. In her hands, she held a bronze mirror.

“Mirror, mirror, please tell me, does this body have any other family?”

After whispering her prayer, she cracked one eye open, peeking cautiously at the “magic mirror” in her hands.

The mirror’s surface shimmered, revealing a faint figure of a man. As Gu Yingying leaned closer, hoping for a clear look, the image shifted—young, then old, constantly changing, making it impossible to identify him.

“Mirror, are you teasing me? I can’t make out anything!”

With a sigh, Gu Yingying carefully wiped her soul-bound mirror, catching her own reflection in the polished bronze.

Her hair, dark and wavy like seaweed, framed her face while her porcelain skin was a flawless blend of rosy and fair tones. Her soft brown eyes, petite nose, and cherry-pink lips gave her an almost endearing, vulnerable look.

“Ah, Senior Brother… where on earth are you?”

Sighing once more, she tucked the mirror back into her arms, still struggling to accept the impossible truth—she had crossed over yet again.

That’s right, she had crossed over again! This was her second time.

Before her first transmigration, she was just an ordinary girl who after saving a child crossing the street, was hit by a car. That accident sent her to Anlan Continent, where she met a Senior Brother who doted on her endlessly. But when he ascended to the heavens, enduring the nine levels of tribulation, one of those lightning strikes just happened to hit her, sending her here—this world.

Here, her name hadn’t changed; she was still Gu Yingying. But her identity had shifted. Using her hard-earned cultivation and her eight hundred years of memories, she realized that this world was actually the setting of a novel she had loved in her first life.

She, Gu Yingying, had become the Gu family’s eldest daughter—or rather, had once been.

Because since it was eight hundred years later she could barely remember the plot of that novel, aside from one thing: she, the Gu family’s supposed eldest daughter, was a fake. The real Gu family heiress was her classmate, the heroine of the novel. Eventually, the heroine reunited with her family, and naturally, the imposter—Gu Yingying—had to step aside.

Unlike other swapped-daughter tales, the Gu family didn’t treat their real daughter poorly just because she’d grown up elsewhere. On the contrary, they adored her when she returned, making Gu Yingying feel like an outsider. Not two months passed before the Gu family learned through the heroine’s own words, of the hardships she’d suffered under her adoptive parents. Furious, they sent Gu Yingying to live with those adoptive parents as punishment.

The rest of the plot was hazy in Gu Yingying’s memory, but she vividly recalled one thing: she was not actually the biological daughter of the heroine’s adoptive parents. When she was cast into that family, she endured abuse and, disturbingly, was eventually kept by her former “brother,” Gu Xiao. Though they weren’t related by blood, they had lived as siblings for years…

At that point in the story, Gu Yingying had stopped reading. She knew nothing about what happened after.

Now, with a month since the heroine, Yu Xuezhen had returned home and taken the name Gu Xuezhen, Gu Yingying was on the verge of being forcibly sent to live with the Yu family. She absolutely refused to let that happen.

The best solution? Find any other family this body might have!

Just now, Gu Yingying had been using her soul-bound magic mirror to locate any blood relatives of this body. By dripping a bit of her blood onto the mirror, it would heat up whenever a blood relative came within a kilometer of her, guiding her to them.

This mirror was Gu Yingying’s soul-bound artifact. Though it seemed to only enhance her beauty, it could actually reveal a person’s fortunes and misfortunes—a trusty travel companion.

Her Senior Brother had once told her that while she was blessed by fate, she had little chance of meeting her blood relatives. If she ever did encounter them, it would be a rare bond worth cherishing. Having gone through two lifetimes without a real family, Gu Yingying was hopeful for the first time.

As she wondered how to find any relatives of this body, a voice suddenly interrupted her thoughts.

“Gu Yingying! Why are you hiding here alone?”

Gu Yingying turned to see Shi Yating whose eyes glinted with mocking disdain, standing beside the heroine—Gu Xuezhen.

Just a month ago, their true backgrounds were revealed. Yu Xuezhen had changed her name to Gu Xuezhen, and the Gu family themselves brought her to school, asking her classmates to look after her. Now, everyone knew that Gu Yingying was merely an imposter who had taken the real Gu daughter’s place. Gu Xuezhen was the true Gu family heiress.

Seeing them approach, Gu Yingying stood up, brushing the leaves off her white dress, a slight frown crossing her face.

“What does it matter to you if I’m here?”

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